Advertising

Hi:
Google ad words clicks are really expensive. I am paying $1.70 per click, whether some one gives business or not does not matter. Cheapest way I find out is KIJIJI Ads. That is free.......... and you get business. Kijiji is owned by big companies, like Ebay, paypal guys. So that comes fast on the first page. Try this and other free websites. I am getting good business from kijiji.
Sam
Signs 101 Canada Inc.

Between my co worker and I we have 5 kids in all three buildings that make up our local school. We print up shirts every once in awhile and put them on our kid's backs. Walking Billboard!! It is great for business from the HS kids who just want a shirt or two to support their fave player in a post season game or event!! We have 80-90% of all the clubs from the school as they know I will make what they want and be quick on getting it to them!
We recently got a new embriodery machine and so that is picking up too... there we have gone to local bbusiness and offered them a deal on polos or hats. Seems to be working thus far. What I am getting at is that we too, do little to no actual advertising, it is all word of mouth and right now that is still working for us!!

Laurie

Hahah, such a good idea Laurie.
Ive done that with my brother and sister in middle school

A bit US-centric :-)

I order 100 lawn signs and put out 25 at stop signs crossways within 15-20 miles of my house. I was so overwhelmed with calls I had to go back and retrieve them. I work out of my house and have a full time job and hadn't gotten around to doing a website yet. Well I have 1 now and I'm a bit nervous about ad words. $1.50+ a hit with no way to cap the amount of hits can be expensive when you're just starting out. So put those same 25 signs back out with the URL on it instead of the phone number. Emails are alot easier to field than calls.

A quick rundown of some easy ideas
Craigslist
Flyers-www.nextdayflyers.com
window decals for your car
cheap shirt sales to get the customer in the door, generally if you take care of them they won't leave
web presence
Good luck!

Hi brothersprinting

If you really want to make it big (your business), then you need to think out of box. Everything in this world has gone online and so is the business. I assume you must have your own website.

List your business in the local online business directories. You can list your business (including email, contact no) here http://www.hellotrade.com/.

If you even get 2-3 queries it would help your business grow vast.

I'd recommend looking at Google Adwords, if you have fairly specific keywords especially local - it can be quite cheap and you only pay for clicks.

I agree 100%, every business should spend all they can on Adwords before you spend a dime advertising anywhere else. You can tailor your campaigns for specific regions (it's not perfect, but close) and advertise to anyone searching Google or one of their search partners. Experiment on content pages, but create a seperate campaign, so you can enter lower bids to start with. The content ads are a little more hip-slinging than search.

You also need to redesign your site to take advantage of those clicks. There are a lot of ways to "generate" a lead from your "click"-- newsletters signups, contact us, telephone numbers, directions and locations are also ways to generate the leads.

Measurement is the most important aspect. Adwords has some analysis but Google Analytics is one of the best applications. It allows you to add up the money you spent on clicks divide it by the number of conversions and you end up with your Cost Per Customer. If your cost per customer is less than average lifetime profit of a new customer, you are coming out ahead.

Adwords is really interesting and they seem to come up with more and more control over where and when your ads run every day. You can now run your ads just during business hours. This prevents fraudulent clicks from other time zones, since they are likely asleep.

There is no more qualified viewer of your advertising than someone who just sat down and typed "embroidered shirts yourtown, usa" or something similar. They are looking for you, spend money to let them see you.